NEPA Sports Nation

Dallas team reaches doubles semis

On a day filled with routine victories by seeded teams, Dani Konnick and Sophia DePolo from Dallas had to fight their way through what was by far Thursday’s most competitive match.

Konnick and DePolo won the third set after splitting two tiebreaker sets with MMI Prep’s Kendall Orozco and Ava Genetti in the Class 2A doubles quarterfinals of the District 2 girls tennis doubles tournament at Kirby Park.

The 6-7 (9-11), 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory made the Dallas team one in four in Class 2A that will join four in Class 3A back at Kirby Park Friday at noon for the semifinals. After a brief break, the finals will follow.

Seeded teams went a combined 24-0 against unseeded opponents, then the higher seed won all six matches when seeded teams faced each other in the quarterfinals.

All of those matches were decided in straight sets except the match that sent the fourth-seeded Dallas team against the fifth-seeded team from MMI Prep.

Class 2A doubles teams made it through three rounds to cut the field from 34 to 4.

The third-seeded team of Scranton Prep’s Annie Johnson-Gisele Falzone also was tested, beating North Pocono’s Nora Pencek-Ella Salak, 6-4, 6-4.

The other six quarterfinalists cruised.

Johnson-Falzone will face the Martinez sisters, Victoria and Anastasia, from Wyoming Seminary. The second-seeded Martinez team lost just three games in six sets.

Top seeds Leelah Farrell-Emma Cuck from Scranton Prep lost just five games in six sets.

The top Class 3A seeds made it through two matches each on the nearby Wilkes University courts.

The top-seeded Hanumali sisters, Rina and Sona, from Abington Heights will face fourth-seeded Hannah Ziegler-Glowacki from Crestwood while West Scranton’s Gabrielle Chantiloupe-Mia Butka, the second seeds, will face Wallenpaupack’s Erika Badner-Frankie Toppi.

The Hanumalis opened with a 6-2 set win, then won their remaining three sets, 6-0.

In all, the four seeded teams lost just 13 games in 16 sets and never yielded more than two games to an opponent in any set.

MORE COVERAGE

Full results: District 2 girls tennis doubles results, semifinal pairings – NEPA Sports Nation.

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